What's coaching?

How is emotional-health coaching different from therapy?

Coaching is solely focused on providing day-to-day support and guidance and to help members develop the skills needed to overcome a barrier or achieve a goal.

The goals of therapy are broader. Therapy is designed specifically for people who need to deepen their self-awareness or better understand their thoughts and feelings. After working with a member, a coach may recommend therapy, depending on their goals.

Both coaching and therapy are available to Ginger members. If a members works with a therapist, we recommend that members work with their coach for additional day-to-day support.

How do members interact with a coach?

Ginger members can chat directly with a coach within the Ginger.io app. Texting through the app is convenient, discreet, and can be done at any time of day, 365 days a year.

Teletherapy and telepsychiatry are also offered through Ginger and are delivered via video. Sessions for these services can be coordinated through a coach.

What can members talk to a coach about?

While it can be helpful to reflect on what to work on with a coach, it’s not required. Members can just jump right in and start chatting. Coaches are experts in asking the right questions to get a clear understanding of each member’s unique lifestyle and goals to create a personalized plan.

Here are a few examples of what Ginger members can work on with their coach:

Achieving goals. Coaches can share tips to help members to set and reach goals — holding them accountable along the way.

Recovering from loss. After losing someone, it can be hard to manage without them. Coaches can support members through this process.

Building self-esteem. A coach can help members increase their confidence and practice self-compassion.

Improving communication. Members can work with a coach to improve and strengthen personal and professional relationships.

Getting through a hard day. Maybe a member is just looking for someone non-judgemental who’ll listen? A coach can do that too.

How is emotional-health coaching different from services that I can get from an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)?

Unlike most EAPs, emotional-health coaching through Ginger is an immediate, 24/7 way for employees to receive emotional support as well as get connected to additional levels of care. With Ginger, members have access to:

Clinical support: With Ginger, members have immediate access to video sessions with world-class therapists and psychiatrists.

Measured outcomes: While EAPs only report on utilization, Ginger reports on outcomes to ensure that every member is getting the right care.

Engaging experience: 8-30% of employee populations engage with Ginger, while EAPs only see 0-3% engagement rates at the same companies.

Getting started

When are coaches available to members?

Ginger coaches are available on demand, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So whether you’re in bed at 2:00 am, waiting in line for coffee, or on the bus, members can instantly chat with a coach.

How does someone get started with a coach?

Getting started with a coach is easy. Once someone signs up, they can start chatting with a coach within seconds. Their coach will walk them through the coaching process and ask a few questions to create a plan that’s tailored to them. Simply download the Ginger.io app from the Apple App Store [link] or Google Play Store [link]. Once an individual downloads the app, they enter a unique code provided by their employer.

If you have further questions on coaching, don’t hesitate to contact our member support team at help@ginger.io.

Can someone work with a coach if he or she is already working with a therapist or psychiatrist?

Yes! Coaching is a great complement to therapy and psychiatry sessions.

Coaches can help by sharing and working through homework assignments prescribed by the clinician(s). They can also serve as an on-demand check-in between appointments. Coaches can help to problem solve challenges that arise between appointments, recall insights and lessons from previous sessions, and provide members with the opportunity to practice new skills on a regular basis.

When a coach is working alongside a Ginger therapist or psychiatrist, they can help communicate between the member and clinician as needed on issues around medication management or changes in symptoms.

For Ginger members who are not working with a therapist or psychiatrist but should be, coaching can address any ambivalence about additional care.

How much does coaching cost?

Emotional-health coaching through Ginger is provided as a free benefit by leading employers and health plans.

Can I get access to Ginger as an individual?

At this time, access to Ginger is only offered to individuals whose employer or health plan offers Ginger as a benefit.

About our team

Who are your emotional-health coaches?

Ginger coaches are experts in stress reduction, motivation, and human behavior. All of our coaches have either an M.A. in Psychology or a Coaching Certification.

How are your emotional-health coaches trained?

Each of our coaches undergoes over 200 hours of training per year. This includes training required as part of on-boarding as a Ginger coach; weekly team training related to skills development, protocol, and process; participation in weekly case consultation; and additional in-person training on a periodic basis.

Are Ginger coaches chatbots?

Nope! Our coaches are real people who care deeply about helping their members. Our health system does utilize augmented intelligence, which uses our data to empower Ginger coaches to know when to reach out at times that are most helpful, or when to bring in additional clinical support. Because of our human-driven, data-powered approach, our members can get the right care at the right time.

How do coaches know when to make a referral for an elevated level of care, and how do they support members through this process?

A core component to the success of this process is our consultation model. Our coaches are in regular contact with both Ginger’s Head of Coaching and licensed National Medical Director to assess cases and recommended next steps, such as triage.

Our coaches are also able to deliver psychoeducation in response to these common situations so that members can better understand their symptoms and experiences. Coaches also focus on skills building, including how to use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills as at appropriate times to help members identify distorted thoughts, change problematic behaviors, tolerate painful emotions, and successfully manage effects. Self-regulation skills, taught through the principles of mindfulness and meditation, are also instrumental to the care our coaches deliver.

Are Ginger coaches trained to handle situations that require triage?

We’ve carefully outlined and trained our coaches to recognize common situations that require clinical triage to therapy or psychiatry. If a member presents with one or more key indicators to triage, the coach will make a referral for an elevated level of care, as well as support the member in taking the steps necessary to access that care. That care may or may not be offered through Ginger.

Key indicators may include potential symptoms of trauma referenced in member’s chat, such as hypervigilance, sleep issues, and isolation; member preference; symptoms that significantly impact functioning; high-risk suicidal or homicidal ideation; past medical history or prior treatment and history of behavioral health; and any indications of self-injurious behavior.

Privacy & security

Do you sell member information to third parties? How is my data used?

No, we do not sell member information to third parties. Member data is kept completely confidential and treated as HIPAA-protected health information.

How does Ginger.io’s platform gather user data from users? What is that data used for?

Ginger.io is a Covered Entity that follows the HIPAA and GDPR Data Minimization and Privacy By Design principles to collect a limited set of member data required for delivering care. This includes the member's name, email address, and a unique access token. Minimal device-related details are collected from the mobile apps for service delivery, security monitoring, and intrusion detection purposes, including IP Address, device type (iPhone vs. Android), and Operating System versions.

Ginger.io collects the chat transcript data between the coaches and the members to provide the history and context to the coaches to deliver behavioral coaching to the members. For the cases where the member is required to be elevated to the clinical care levels of therapy and/or psychiatry, additional clinical data is collected from the members as required for the standard clinical procedures.

Do users have the opportunity to opt in or opt out of Ginger.io monitoring and gathering data? How are users notified of this data collection?

Ginger.io follows the GDPR regulations for "Informed And Explicit Consent" during member onboarding for Ginger.io services. The Ginger.io Privacy Policy and Terms of Use notify users with the detailed data collection policies. The important privacy related items are presented explicitly during the onboarding flow for members to provide their informed consent.

What user information is shared with employers? How are users notified of this data sharing?

Ginger.io does not share any individual level service usage or other private data with the employers. We do provide employer and health plan clients periodic service usage reports. These reports are aggregated and anonymized to preserve the privacy of the employees that are actively engaged with the Ginger.io platform.